Dear Lifehacker,
My morning routine currently consists of hitting snooze a bunch of times, throwing on some clothes, and barely making it out the door on time. I'd love to upgrade my mornings so I feel less frazzled and actually start the day on the right foot. Any suggestions?

Signed,
Miserable in the Morning

Dear Miserable,
Many of us who aren't naturally early birds or who just have a lot going on in the mornings know how you feel. It's hard to take advantage of all that magical morning productivity time when you can barely drag yourself out of bed or you've got a chaotic household to take care of. Taking a look at our habits and priorities, though, perhaps we can find ways to finally start owning our mornings instead of being slaves to the clock. Here are some tips to make mornings a bit less stressful and hectic:

Get Enough Sleep and Wake Up at the Right Time

Perhaps the biggest boost for both your morning and entire day is to tweak your sleep. Sleep science tells us that if we wake between sleep cycles instead of in the middle of one, we'll feel much better. Previously mentioned Sleeptimingand Sleepyti.me webapps calculate the best time to set your alarm so you wake up refreshed rather than cranky—and perhaps you won't need that snooze button anymore.

Getting enough sleep is critical for good health, but the old advice about needing eight hours of…
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When you wake up at the right time and start your days alert instead of snoozy, that alone might make your mornings feel less chaotic—as if you've got twice the amount of time (or at least energy) to do things. You can even hack your mornings to make waking up more pleasant, such as setting a better music alarm, for an extra boost out of bed.

Some of us just aren't natural early risers, yet there's still hope for us if we want to…
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Imagine what can you do with all that extra time, even if it's just thirty minutes for feeding your mind and setting the tone for the day. Laura Vanderkam, author of What Most Successful People Do Before Breakfastwrites that you should track how you're using your mornings for a week, then picture your perfect morning in terms of both personal growth (e.g., training for something) and professional growth (e.g., taking online classes). If you can carve extra time out in your mornings, you can find time for the things you really want to do but just never seem to get around to doing.

If your morning routine consists of a mad rush to get out the door on time, it's probably time …
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Automate Your Mornings

Here's something all of us can do: Start the morning the night or even days before. By shifting all the mindless but essential tasks like picking out clothes and making breakfast to other times, we can preserve the more precious morning time.

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You can make a lot of breakfasts and lunches ahead of time. For example: oatmeal in a crockpot or in a jar (enough for a whole week in 5 minutes) or frozen scones you can pop in the microwave. Make salad in a jar and snack packs days ahead of time.

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If you have a significant other and/or kids who make having a sane morning an incredible feat, that's okay too. Your household doesn't have to be run like a military ship to be less chaotic. Perhaps it just needs a little routine for everyone—from the morning prep the night before to the steps to get out the door in the morning (bribery with a points system or racing games works with kids, I hear).

Having a set area for all the things you need the next day also helps. You'll always know where your keys, go bag, and everything else you need are.